


Pyrrhic

by NothingSoDivine



Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen, Hugging, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Season/Series 04 Spoilers, Team Feels, WUZZLES!, also life, fight me, not a lot but I'm definitely upset about it, oh yeah and there's feels, seriously hugging is awesome, that's genuinely upsetting, there should be more hugging in fic, why is the only tag that shows up when I search for hugging the one for non-consensual hugging, yes I'm still trying to make that a thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2017-11-30
Packaged: 2019-02-08 17:09:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12869178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NothingSoDivine/pseuds/NothingSoDivine
Summary: Set in S4, sometime after Ruby catches Jaune training. The remaining members of Team JNPR find out about it too. Major spoilers up to the end of Season 3, in case you haven't gotten there yet, which, come on, we're on S5 right now, catch up. Minor spoilers up to S4E2 if I remember correctly. It's 90% team bonding, just so you know.





	Pyrrhic

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this because there is seriously not enough hugging on this show. ... Or anywhere, for that matter. People don't hug enough in general. That's not even my opinion, that's my incredibly biased reinterpretation of a scientific fact. (So, like, it's kind of my opinion, but science agrees, so there is that.)
> 
> Chose not to use content warnings because I couldn't decide whether it was worth it to warn for the references to Pyrrha's death.

**pyrrhic** _adj._ (of a victory) won at too great a cost to have been worthwhile for the victor.

* * *

Ruby woke to the sound of Pyrrha's voice, distant and faint but still distinct, just like she had the night before, and the night before that. Rolling over onto her back, she stared up at the canopy of leaves overhead and listened to the murmur of Pyrrha speaking and Jaune grunting with exertion as he trained.

Sighing, she rolled over to her side and stared into the dying campfire.

"Ruby?"

Ruby glanced beyond the fire. Nora's wide eyes peered back at her.

"You too, huh?" Ruby asked.

"What is that?" Nora wondered, uncharacteristically quiet. "I mean, it sounds like -"

"Pyrrha," Ruby confirmed. "Sometime before she - died," she managed with only the slightest pause, "she made Jaune a training video. He's been practising with it every night for at least the past week."

At the other edge of the campfire, Ren rolled over, meeting Ruby's eyes. "He's not handling it well."

Ruby huffed a humourless laugh. "Is anyone?"

Nora huffed, too, rolling onto her back and crossing her arms. "I don't like him like this."

Ruby sighed. "Me neither," she admitted, watching as a lone lick of flame crawled slowly up one log before winking out. "But what can we do?"

Nora sat up, squirming out of her bedroll. "I'm going to go give him a hug."

"Nora, wait," Ren said, sitting up as Nora got to her feet. "You can't just -"

"Yes I can," Nora replied simply.

"Hugs don't fix everything," Ren objected, voice sharper than Ruby had ever heard it before. "Sometimes you just have to let people hurt, Nora."

"We're his _team_ , Ren," Nora snapped right back. "We're supposed to _help_ each other. I'm not going to let our team leader suffer alone."

They were silent for a moment, staring each other down. Then Ren dropped his gaze.

"Fine, but I'm coming with you," he said.

Nora nodded once, then looked over at Ruby. "You coming?"

Ruby tossed back her blanket. "He's my friend, too."

* * *

"Again," Pyrrha's voice told him, and Jaune swung again, grunting with the effort. Tears ran hot down his cheeks. His palms were sweating, sword heavy in his grip.

"And again," Pyrrha said, and he swung again.

"Okay," said Pyrrha, and he let his sword dip towards the ground.

"Jaune?" came a voice from behind him.

Jaune whirled around, sword and shield at the ready. Looking sheepish, Nora stepped out from behind a tree.

Jaune lowered his weapon, swiping at his cheeks with the back of his glove. "Nora. I - oh jeez," he muttered, dropping his sword altogether and diving to turn off his scroll. "I've just been -"

"Practising. We know," Ruby chimed in, stepping into the clearing as well, Ren close behind.

Jaune sighed, sheathing his sword and returning it to his belt. "Great. The gang's all here to witness my humiliation."

"Jaune, we're not -" Ruby started, before Nora darted forward and wrapped her arms around Jaune's middle.

Jaune froze at first, shocked, but Nora was warm around his waist and down his side, and there was something so determined about the way she tucked herself up under his arm. The contact was good - he'd grown up with seven sisters, he was used to a lot of hugging and roughhousing and general contact. One of the biggest adjustments he'd had to make in moving to Beacon was getting used to being around people who didn't like to be touched all the time. It had been a long time since anyone had hugged him like that, determinedly and wholeheartedly like Nora always was. Still, it was a very long moment before he settled his arms tentatively around her and held her close.

"We know it's hard for you," Ruby said softly, and Jaune hadn't noticed her come closer, but she was right there by his other side, looking up at him with sympathy in her eyes. "It's hard for us, too. But we want to help."

"We're here for you, doofus," Nora informed him, muffled where she'd buried her face in the unprotected part of his shoulder.

"All of us," Ren chimed in, stepping forward.

Jaune was crying again, but both his arms were still around Nora, so he let the tears fall. Then Ruby tucked herself up against his other side, and Ren slipped in between the girls, and Jaune wrapped himself around all three of them and held them close. They hugged him back, and Jaune was pretty sure he heard a couple of sniffles that weren't his.

"Thanks, guys," Jaune said eventually, once the warmth of his teammates had sunk into his bones. His voice was thick from crying but mostly steady. He went to pull away, to put himself to rights and head back to camp, but somebody reeled him back in.

"Not done yet," came a quiet voice, and was that Ren?

Jaune cracked a smile. "Okay."

He closed his eyes and let his team soothe the ache deep in his chest.

**Author's Note:**

> TEAM FEELS MAKE ME HAPPY OKAY
> 
> Also, it's an un-proofed, 2 AM Team RNJR feelings dump, so please feel free to nitpick! And of course, constructive criticism and compliments are always welcome.


End file.
